Behind barbed-wired fences and multiple security checks sits a small patch of land in the center of the Belmont Correctional Institution in southeast Ohio’s Belmont County.
The growing season is over, so it doesn’t look like much now, but just a few weeks ago it was home to a colossal pumpkin weighing 1,700 lbs.
The pumpkin-growing tradition dates back to 2022, when Mansfield Correctional Institution issued a challenge: grow the biggest pumpkin in a prison yard. The Larry Stewart Giant Pumpkin Challenge, in its fifth year, now involves correctional institutions across the state.
John Jaskowiak is the corrections officer at Belmont who oversees the pumpkin patch and the seven incarcerated people who tend to it. He has prior experience growing large pumpkins.
“They knew that I had grown them in the early 2000s, so they asked me if I would take over and grow the pumpkins here. I was glad to do it,” Jaskowiak said.
The first year, the pumpkin patch was just two plants, but managed to produce a 596-pound pumpkin they named Pipsqueak. Belmont won the first year and has dominated the competition every year since.
“They're gunning for us,” Jaskowiak said. “It might be rough for them, but they're trying to take Belmont out. It's kind of fun in a way.”
Taking the national pumpkin stage
Belmont’s pumpkins also get submitted to the national pumpkin weigh-off at the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival in Belmont County, which is sanctioned by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.
Their pumpkins are judged against professional growers who use green houses and modern technology, like sensors to monitor soil moisture levels.
But Belmont doesn’t have access to the same level of equipment.
The growers there tend to the plants during their thrice daily recreation time and are only able to use basic gardening tools when under supervision. Prison regulations also prevent them from using harsh chemicals like fungicides or other disease and pest control.
Larry has been growing pumpkins at Belmont for the last four years. Due to the nature of his crime and the correctional facility’s policies, we’re using just his first name. He says their team has learned to improvise.
“We were very primitive. We had to dig with sticks and stuff to do the weeding and whatnot. We’re not allowed like shovels and so forth,” Larry said.
In addition to limited tools, the Belmont team works in the patch through the hottest months of the summer — pulling weeds and carrying up to 200 gallons of water a day, bucket by bucket, to each plant.
This year, they grew six Atlantic Giant pumpkin plants.
‘It’s been nothing but positive’
It’s hard work, but Larry thinks it’s worth it. He’s been incarcerated for 13 years and says this is the best use of his recreation time.
“Everybody seems to enjoy it and they all take a little bit of pride in it,” Larry said. “So I think it's a good positive thing for the inmates that are working with the program, and it probably sets an example to others for hard work and such.”
Jaskowiak says he gets a lot of requests from people at the facility to be involved in the program. But those involved must have fairly clean records during their incarceration. And since Jaskowiak is the only one overseeing the work, they only have spots for seven people.
Nonetheless, the pumpkins remain a popular talking point in the facility.
“All the inmates, all day long, that's all we hear is, ‘How’s the pumpkin?’ It's been nothing but positive,” Jaskowiak said.
This year’s top-growing pumpkin was on track to be one of Belmont’s largest. But tragedy struck in the form of bad weather.
“We was at a maximum growth period. Then we had three days of hard rain, which just seemed to push it a little too hard and it cracked on the back stem because of growing too fast. And unfortunately that disqualified us,” Larry said.
At 1,700 pounds, they were set to place high in the national competition. This year’s winning pumpkin at Belmont weighed-in at just over 1,800 pounds. Belmont sent their runner-up pumpkin to the contest instead and placed 10th.
It’s still a big win for Belmont. The growers get to feel like they’re involved in the community, even while in prison. The national contest comes with prize money — which they donate to a local charity. Tenth place earned them $500.
“It's nice to know that we can give back to the community in certain ways,” Larry said.
Hoping for the best for next year
The correctional facility’s participation has been embraced not only by the people of Barnsville, but by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, says Dean Wehr, the pumpkin weigh-off organizer for the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival.
“Everybody in that association is sharing information with those guys,” Wehr said. “Giving them different kinds of seeds, you know, trying to help them out as much as they can. It goes a lot farther than just our community.”
Belmont in turn shares the knowledge and skills they’ve gained and received with other correctional facilities in the state. Jaskowiak says they share seeds from their largest pumpkins and field questions to help other facilities' crops grow larger.
Even though this year’s colossal pumpkin was disqualified, they’ll harvest the seeds for next year’s crop — compost the rest – and hope for a record-breaking pumpkin next year.